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Ask HN: Is Hacker News a “Community?”

9 points by laurex 5y ago

'What makes something a community?' is a question I ask myself frequently. I think HN tends to like to get meta about HN - but it leads me to wonder what people mean when they mention "the community." Do you consider yourself part of the "HN Community?" Why or why not?

TheFreim 5y ago
I've thought about "community" a lot lately. I've noticed that every single group that can possibly be defined has what's referred to as a "community". I don't even know what the word means anymore.
- laurex 5y ago
  My own sense is that something isn't a 'community' if most people in it don't know each other or talk to each other- but I am open to that being challenged.
Comevius 5y ago
I come here to learn and occasionally to vent my frustration about the dark patterns and fraud people in the tech industry rely on to make money, making the world a worst place while claiming the opposite. Though more often than not it's the incentives that are wrong, not the people. I'm not a saint, or know everything either. I think the staple of a community is that you can rely on each other. Commonalities alone don't make a community. Shared belief don't make a community either, only a cult. In a community people must be able to bring together multiple perspectives. In a community people must be able to have differences, and reconcile them through consensus. A community must be able to shine more lights on reality, not create an alternative realities. HN has a semblance of a community, we strive to broaden our perspectives, and we welcome each other's entrepreneurial efforts.
zozbot234 5y ago
It seems quite close to what's generally known as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice community of practice. But the term "community" alone, without such narrow qualifiers, should really be reserved for groups of people that meet, bind together and seek to thrive in the real world with their unique concerns.
marto1 5y ago
Depends how high you set the bar. Is community a group of people with similar interests that come together to throw opinions on a range of topics? Yes, HN is a community. Is community a group of people that rely on each other every day for their livelihoods and potential prosperity ? No, absolutely not.
agnos 5y ago
It's interesting to me the distinction between "community" and "society". Seems like we use the term community to imply groups that form relationships somewhat involuntarily because of constraints, whereas society is built on these relationships themselves -- society is the mental abstraction of a community. I'd consider HN and other online "communities" to be somewhere in between, where people form relationships because of some abstract notion of common constraints/goals/etc. Maybe there's a better term, though, to describe social groups that have something in common without everyone necessarily having direct contact with each other. I think what's common to all social groups, though, is some level of trust. I come to HN because I trust the opinions and incentives are somewhat close to my own. So I'd consider it to be a community in that sense but it doesn't seem completely accurate since there's no direct contact between everyone.
omosubi 5y ago
In my experience, the more the word "community" is used the less of an actual community exists. I grew up in a fairly religious household and the religious community I was a part of growing up was the most tight knit group I have ever been apart of. Even if I don't practice it anymore I can show up at the religious center I grew up in and can see people I have known since I was born (I'm in my 30s now). One woman I see always tells me that she was the first person to feed me water. Many people never really get anything like that and it's a shame. Because people are so starved for some sense of real community, it's become a marketing buzzword. I do like that hacker news does have a set of rules, and people try to enforce them (i.e. avoiding divisive topics, down voting low value comments, etc), but this alone a community does not make.
theodric 5y ago
Hacker News is an argument
- theodric 5y ago
  I love that I got downvoted for this comment :-D
pictur 5y ago
If we say that the community is the place where a culture is formed, yes, this is a community. I think that people's comments are always shaped accordingly, as a result of the culture that occurs in most of the sharing.
glonq 5y ago
No, not until one of you buys me a beer.

9 points by laurex 5y ago

TheFreim 5y ago

I've thought about "community" a lot lately. I've noticed that every single group that can possibly be defined has what's referred to as a "community". I don't even know what the word means anymore.

laurex 5y ago
My own sense is that something isn't a 'community' if most people in it don't know each other or talk to each other- but I am open to that being challenged.

Comevius 5y ago

I come here to learn and occasionally to vent my frustration about the dark patterns and fraud people in the tech industry rely on to make money, making the world a worst place while claiming the opposite. Though more often than not it's the incentives that are wrong, not the people. I'm not a saint, or know everything either. I think the staple of a community is that you can rely on each other. Commonalities alone don't make a community. Shared belief don't make a community either, only a cult. In a community people must be able to bring together multiple perspectives. In a community people must be able to have differences, and reconcile them through consensus. A community must be able to shine more lights on reality, not create an alternative realities. HN has a semblance of a community, we strive to broaden our perspectives, and we welcome each other's entrepreneurial efforts.

zozbot234 5y ago

It seems quite close to what's generally known as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice community of practice. But the term "community" alone, without such narrow qualifiers, should really be reserved for groups of people that meet, bind together and seek to thrive in the real world with their unique concerns.

marto1 5y ago

Depends how high you set the bar. Is community a group of people with similar interests that come together to throw opinions on a range of topics? Yes, HN is a community. Is community a group of people that rely on each other every day for their livelihoods and potential prosperity ? No, absolutely not.

agnos 5y ago

It's interesting to me the distinction between "community" and "society". Seems like we use the term community to imply groups that form relationships somewhat involuntarily because of constraints, whereas society is built on these relationships themselves -- society is the mental abstraction of a community. I'd consider HN and other online "communities" to be somewhere in between, where people form relationships because of some abstract notion of common constraints/goals/etc. Maybe there's a better term, though, to describe social groups that have something in common without everyone necessarily having direct contact with each other. I think what's common to all social groups, though, is some level of trust. I come to HN because I trust the opinions and incentives are somewhat close to my own. So I'd consider it to be a community in that sense but it doesn't seem completely accurate since there's no direct contact between everyone.

omosubi 5y ago

In my experience, the more the word "community" is used the less of an actual community exists. I grew up in a fairly religious household and the religious community I was a part of growing up was the most tight knit group I have ever been apart of. Even if I don't practice it anymore I can show up at the religious center I grew up in and can see people I have known since I was born (I'm in my 30s now). One woman I see always tells me that she was the first person to feed me water. Many people never really get anything like that and it's a shame. Because people are so starved for some sense of real community, it's become a marketing buzzword. I do like that hacker news does have a set of rules, and people try to enforce them (i.e. avoiding divisive topics, down voting low value comments, etc), but this alone a community does not make.

theodric 5y ago

Hacker News is an argument

theodric 5y ago
I love that I got downvoted for this comment :-D

pictur 5y ago

If we say that the community is the place where a culture is formed, yes, this is a community. I think that people's comments are always shaped accordingly, as a result of the culture that occurs in most of the sharing.

glonq 5y ago

No, not until one of you buys me a beer.